Smith Statement on IPCC Climate Change Report

This morning in Stockholm, the U.N. Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) released findings from its Working Group I report on climate change. Preceding the release, the Associated Press reported that several nations lobbied the IPCC to include in its report speculative scenarios that could explain the lack of climate change since 1998. Science, Space, and Technology Committee Chairman Lamar Smith (R-Texas) released the following statement.

Chairman Smith: “Lobbying by several nations to influence the latest IPCC report demonstrates that these reports have become more political than scientific. The ‘summary for policymakers’ released this morning in Stockholm appears to be designed to provide cover for excessive regulations and carbon taxes. There is little doubt the Obama administration will try to use this report to support additional costly regulations. But even the EPA has admitted that unilateral action by the U.S., including its recent energy regulations, will result in negligible changes to our carbon dioxide emissions and will have no discernible impact on the global temperature.

“The IPCC also has had to backtrack from previous reports in several important areas. The report backs away from claims about a connection between climate change and severe weather. The report states ‘low confidence’ in any connection between human-driven climate change and increased droughts or hurricanes. Rather than releasing politically-influenced opinions, the IPCC should let the science speak for itself. I look forward to reviewing the actual scientific assessment of the peer-reviewed literature.”